Upgrading
Upgrading is a useful function for increasing a main character's battle effectiveness. There are two types of upgrades that may be performed in Ecol Tactics--Skill Stone upgrades and Item upgrades. This section will cover both. Item Upgrades Ecol Tactics features a number of items that may be improved through the upgrading system. These items fall into one of three general item categories: Weapon, Equipment, or Avatar Items (Avatar Items are located in the Inventory tab labeled "Cash"). Weapons and Equipment upgrades are handled in the same fashion, with Avatar Item upgrades having only one minor difference. Upgrading Essentials Item Upgrades can only be done inside town at the Craft Merchant. In the village of Vermonics, this would be Monica. After selecting the Upgrade Item command, the Item Upgrade Menu will appear. This menu, as seen to the left, allows for both Weapon and Equipment items to be upgraded. To do so, the player needs to have a High Class or Rare item, one or more Enchantment Cubes, and the required amount of gold. Upgrade Cost The gold cost of upgrading depends upon the item's level requirement. The cost to upgrade a weapon designated for a level 1 character is substantially less than a weapon designated for a level 25 character. The required amount of Enchantment Cubes, on the other hand, will increase as the item's upgrade level increases. A +5 weapon requires more Enchantment Cubes to upgrade than a +1 weapon. Items Required for Upgrading Upgrading Avatar Items In similar fashion, Avatar Items may also be upgraded at the Craft Merchant's shop. Doing so, however, does not consume Enchantment Cubes. Instead, Cash Shop Items known as Avatar Upgrade are used. Furthermore, any Avatar Item that provides stat bonuses may be upgraded as High Grade and Rare Avatar Items do not exist. Upgrading Risk With the higher benefits of upgrading items comes increased risk. Beginning with +3 items, attempts to further upgrade items comes with a chance of failure that will erase your upgrading efforts and revert the upgrade level to zero. This can be a frustrating experience given the upgrade costs. Fortunately, there are some Cash Shop Items that may mitigate the risk of failure. Skill Stone Upgrades Weapons and Armor are not the only things that can be upgraded. Skill Stones may also be upgraded to boost the character's effectiveness when deploying skills on the battlefield. Upgrading Essentials Unlike item upgrades, Skill Stone upgrades do not require the use of either gold or Enchantment Cubes. The only requirement is to have enough matching Skill Stones to combine into their next level of Skill Stone. This can get rather tricky, however, since each upgrade requires more and more leveled skill stones to complete. The list to the right shows the upgrading progression. Using the Upgrade Menu To begin upgrading, select the Skills Menu by clicking on the lightning bolt icon or by typing 'S' on the keyboard. Selecting the Upgrade tab will display the following menu shown below. Next, choose the Type, Level, and Weapon category from the Select Skill panel located at the lower left-hand side of the menu. Remember to choose the Level you wish to upgrade to. Then select the desired skill from the Skill List. Doing this will the exact requirements and stats of the stone to be created. If these requirements are met, the Upgrade Skill button will become active. After pressing this button, the combining process will begin. A successful upgrade will then be placed in the character's inventory. Upgrading Risk Just as Item Upgrading comes with some risk, so too does Skill Stone Upgrading. In fact, these risks are considerably more severe as failure completely destroys all of the stones using in the combination process. It is advisable to take proper precautions when combining higher level skills stones as complete item loss is an infuriating consequence. Of course, Ecol Tactics does provide some Cash Shop Items to help alleviate some of the risk.